Kerry duo Twomey and Hudson secure All Ireland final berth

ONE week after winning the Division 1 County Ladies Doubles Championship title for the first time Maeve Twomey (Killarney) and Elaine Hudson (Moyvane) are making the headlines again but this time for achievements at National level.

Played at Baldoyle Badminton Centre in Dublin the Hudson/Twomey partnership faced all-Kerry partnership Niamh Hickey (Killarney) and Patricia O’Herilihy (Listowel) in their opening contest of the All-Ireland Grade D Championships with Twomey and Hudson winning 21-19, 16-21, 21-14.

They won their quarter-final match 21-14, 21-18 before winning their semi-final 24-22, 21-16. The final won’t be played until May 18 at the new National Indoor Arena in Blanchardstown the same night the Kerry Badminton social takes place at the Rose Hotel in Tralee.

Twomey then teamed up with Paul Kingston (Cork) to reach the final of the Mixed competition also beating Donie Enright (Moyvane) and Ruth Concannon (Kingdom Castleisland) along the way. This sets up a nice chance of an All-Ireland double for Kerry in May and something extra to cheer about at the social.

Munster Closed Championships

KERRY again enjoyed plenty of success at Juvenile level in Munster last weekend.

Christopher O’Donoghue (Moyvane) defeated Cathal Donovan (Annascaul) in the Boys U-17 singles championships before teaming up with him to win the Doubles title.

Later in the day O’Donoghue put up a spirited performance in a bid to win a treble on the day by reaching the final of the Mixed event but he and his partner Naoise Murtagh when down in the final to Mattie O’Flynn and Sinead O’Sullivan.

In the Girls U-17 event Listowel pairing Madison Carter and Deina Vesko reached the final. Indeed Vesko also reached the semi-final of both the singles event and the Mixed event with playing partner Jack McElligott (Listowel).

However, the McElligott family were celebrating as younger brother Oscar won the Division 2 Boys U-13 Singles event. Credit most also go to Sinead Kelly (Listowel) who reached two finals in the U-13 Division 2 section.

She lost the girls doubles final with Amelia Kiely and the mixed final with Conor Murphy.

CPC.ie Kerry County Doubles Championships

THE Kerry County Senior Championships continue this Friday night (March 1) when the Division 2 and Division 4 Ladies and Men’s titles will be up for the grabs. The action gets underway in Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre from 7.30pm.

Sugrue Tournament

THE Paddy Sugrue Badminton Tournament takes place at Tralee Sports Complex in aid of the Chernobyl Children’s Trust Tralee and District branch this Sunday.

Please enter through your club secretary or to Tom Clear, Gurrane, Listellick, Tralee by Friday March 1st. Division 5 starts at 12 noon. Division 4 at 2pm. Division 3 commences at 3.30pm and Division 2 at 4.30pm. Plate competitions are included.

RESULTS

Suits Select Men’s League Division 1 & 2 Kingdom 7 Moyvane 2

CPC Mixed Leagues Division 2

Killarney 5 Moyvane 2

Division 3

Listowel 6 Kingdom 1

Division 4

Listowel (B) 5 Killarney 2

Listowel (A) 7 Causeway 0 Killarney 4 Kingdom 3

Division 5 League

Men’s League

Killarney 3 Listowel 1 Ballyheigue (B) 4 Listowel 0 Moyvane 0 Causeway 4

Ladies League

Moyvane (A) 4 Listowel (B) 0 Moyvane (B) 0 Ballyheigue 4 Killarney 4 Listowel 0

FIXTURES

FRIDAY MARCH 1

Div 2 and Div 4 Kerry Ladies and Men’s Doubles Championships (Killarney Sports Centre)

SATURDAY MARCH 2

Juvenile Club Tournament (Killarney Sports Centre)

SUNDAY MARCH 3

Paddy Sugrue Tournament (Tralee Complex) SATURDAY MARCH 9

Juvenile Mixed Doubles (Killarney Sports Centre)